How to make nearly-free, DIY blotting papers in less than 1 minute

Guest post by Dootsie Bug

DIY blotting papers

What the heck ARE blotting papers? They’re little bits of paper intended to soak up excess oil on your face during the day. The blotting papers you see for sale are often made from rice paper, but this DIY version is next-to free, and works pretty well! Theoretically, you could make these any colour or shape you like, which makes it way more fun.

Materials:

  • Coffee filters, a toilet seat cover, or tissue paper (the kind for gifts. Caution: some dyed tissue paper will bleed when it comes into contact with anything wet, so do a test!)
  • Scissors
  • Broken face powder
  • A makeup bag, or case, that zips or closes completely and won’t let powder escape

Instructions:

  1. Cut your blotting paper material into any shape you like. It’s most convenient if you aim for something small, probably no larger than three inches wide. Your blotting papers are totally ready for use at this point–everything after this step is just to add a little extra mattifying power!
  2. Dump your broken face powder into the bag. Squish the bag to break the clumps into a fine powder, or smush them with a spoon.
  3. Place the blotting papers in the bag/case, close it up and give everything a good shake.

When you’re ready to blot, open the bag carefully. Tap the papers a bit to shake off any clumped-up powder. Dab the paper on any spots you want to blot. Throw away after use.

Comments on How to make nearly-free, DIY blotting papers in less than 1 minute

  1. Thanks, Dootsie! I’ve been using coffee filters for the past few months when I came across a stash my fiance’s roommate left after he moved. Since neither of us drink coffee, I decided to put them to use on my face. It never occurred to me to use face powder with it.

    • It actually only occurred to me because the bag you see in the picture was sitting on my desk full of a broken compact of face powder for about 6 months before I was like, “Man, I should really find a way to use this.” Haha

  2. This is a much better plan than using the stack of purple sticky notes on my desk. Something very gratifying about seeing all the oil seeped into them though…

  3. You could reuse the empty powder container. Just cut the tissue into circles. It would be more durable than the bag, that I would shred in a week. It probably has a mirror too. Fancy.

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